In the early days you had to know how to do board level repair like changing resistors and capacitors in order to repair a computer. These days with plug and play everything has changed drastically. You used to need a degree or some formalized training in electronics in order to do repair. Can you imagine having to go to school for 2 years or more just so you would be able to repair a computer?

I have been using, repairing and programming computers since the seventies. I had to learn a lot of this stuff through specialized schooling and training. I did also learn a lot through trial and error. Nowadays even ordinary housewives can learn very easily how to upgrade and repair computers because almost everything is plug and play. Some instructions are still needed though so that you do everything correctly.

I've bought many computers over the years for friends and family but the one thing I have learned is never buy a computer for somebody who does not know how to use and repair them. Giving tech support for these gifts has made me realize how people like Bill Gates, and Michael Dell have made a lot of their money.

A past friend of mine used to sell how to videos on Ebay that taught complete novices how to build computers and do common upgrades. These videos were relatively inexpensive when compares to what somebody might pay a computer repair shop to fix their computer. I have spent a great deal of time looking over all the do it yourself computer repair courses that are out there on the Web and I have put a link to the best one on my home page.

Someday I hope to also find a similar course for car repair and TV's and VCR's. A good site that I found that gives some basic knowledge is the site titled "howstuffworks." or even the site "about". Another site that I am a subscriber of is "newbie club" . All of their instruction is text based but they do provide some great information.

Now a word of caution before anybody buys any do it yourself guides is to allow others to repair things like printers and monitors. With computers you'll learn how to replace memory, add new drives or upgrade video cards but with items like memory you will need to know the difference between parity and nonparity memory. Now if you don't want to learn the do it yourself thing you can always just stick with upgrades that connect via the USB port. I don't think this will ever work for memory but who knows.

Here's a couple of freebies that won't cost you any money at all. Get a copy of "Spybot search and destroy" and "Ad-Aware SE". For virus control I've always had great luck with AVG Free Edition. Antivirus should be run almost daily, the best time would be at like 3am. For the fist two you should use each one weekly. With Windows activate the free firewall. With everything you do always make a backup of the way things were.. I know some people who have had great luck with an app like Norton Ghost.

When you start doing repair and upgrades keep a journal of what exactly is done each time to your system. This will save a lot of your time in the future. Never use white out on your computer monitor which will save you from becoming the butt end of a lot of jokes.